1. Field of the Invention
This application claims priority under the Paris Convention on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-301353 filed on Nov. 21, 2007, the entire content of which is herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a process for producing cycloalkanol and/or cycloalkanone by oxidizing cycloalkane with oxygen.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the process for producing cycloalkanol and/or cycloalkanone by oxidizing cycloalkane with oxygen, for example, a process for performing the oxidation reaction in the presence of a catalyst wherein a transition metal such as cobalt, gold, chromium or the like is supported on silica, alumina, zirconia, carbon or titania (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,183), a process for performing the oxidation reaction in the presence of a catalyst wherein manganese is supported on metallosilicate or aluminophosphate (cf. Published Japanese Translation No. 10-505867 of the PCT Application), a process for performing the oxidation reaction in the presence of a catalyst wherein gold is supported on cerium oxide, and a process for performing the oxidation reaction in the presence of a catalyst wherein a transition metal such as cobalt, gold, chromium, bismuth or the like is supported on mesoporous silica (for example, refer to Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, (Republic of Korea), 1998, Vol. 15, pp. 510-515; Applied Catalysis A: General, (Netherlands), 2005, Vo. 280, pp. 175-180; Applied Catalysis A: General, (Netherlands), 2007, Vo. 318, pp. 128-136; and Chemistry Letters, (Japan), 2005, Vol. 34, pp. 162-163).